Shamar Rinpoche

Shamar Rinpoche, May 2005

On Monday afternoon Shamar Rinpoche visited two of the mandala's nearby centres, Dhagpo Dedrol Ling and Dhagpo Dargyé Ling.

Dhagpo Dedrol Ling, only a few minutes' ride from Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, is a retreat centre for lay people. It has a retreat group presently in a three-year retreat, several individual long-term retreatants and members who keep the centre running while also preparing for meditation retreats. Shamar Rinpoche was heartily welcomed by the director of Dedrol Ling, Lama Wally, and a small group of people. He visited the Drupkang (the three-year retreat), blessed the future temple and met with practitioners in the small shrine room.

Dhagpo Dargyé Ling is another centre for laypeople in a beautiful and peaceful setting, some thirty minutes' ride from Dhagpo Kagyu Ling. It is developing steadily under the guidance of Lama Seunam. A stupa is in the process of being constructed, and seminars and group retreats for practitioners who enjoy the silence and seclusion conducive to meditation in Dargyé Ling's spacious temple take place regularly.
Shamar Rinpoche then gave his blessing for future projects of the centre and its members.

Today, Wednesday, May 25, Shamar Rinpoche continued his series of teachings, focusing on Vipassana and the remedies to difficulties that may arise during practice.
He explained that through the analytical meditation process, we come to understand that what we generally think of as being truly existing external phenomena can only be said to 'exist' in connection with other phenomena: that they are interdependent. He stressed the importance of practicing diligently so that our understanding would become experiential, beyond a simple intellectual analysis.
Rinpoche gave many examples to illustrate this, allowing us to better fathom this point. For instance, we think of chocolate as being something that has inherent qualities: it is sweet, brown, and tastes good. But can we confirm that chocolate and its qualities exist independently of the mind that perceives them? The truth of interdependency must also be applied to the relationship between the mind and the objects of perception. In the case of chocolate, if the mind was not perceiving it to have the aforementioned aspects, but we assume it to have some objectively existing qualities, then, « chocolate would be able to taste itself, wouldn't it? » Rinpoche said, laughing.
This interdependency, he explained, is actually co-dependent in the case of the mind and the objects it perceives. Just as an outer object can not be said to exist independently of the mind which perceives it, one cannot posit that the mind itself exists unless it has a reference object that it is interacting with. If you are having a thought, it is always about something, isn't it? he pointed out.

One of the greatest obstacles to our practice is laziness, he said, explaining that devotion is the most appropriate remedy. He encouraged us to read about the great masters of the past to find inspiration for our practice. He particularly recommended Milarepa's songs, explaining that each time the great yogi encountered and overcame an obstacle in his meditation, he expressed this in a song in order to help other practitioners follow suit.